(born
December 3 ,
1937 in
Miami, Florida ) was a
NASCAR championship driver and was named one of NASCAR's 50 greatest drivers.
Allison entered his first race as a senior in high school, but was ordered to quit by his father after a few accidents. After high school in 1959, Allison took his brother
Donnie and some friends along on a quest for more lucrative racing than was available in south Florida. His searching led him to the Montgomery Speedway in
Montgomery, Alabama , and he was told of a race that very night in
Midfield, Alabama near
Birmingham . Allison entered and won that race, along with two others races that week. He had found his lucrative racing. Bobby and Donnie set up shop in
Hueytown, Alabama with another friend (
Red Farmer ), and they began answering to the name
Alabama Gang .
Bobby Allison also worked as a mechanic and an engine tester, but eventually came into his own as a driver and won the national championship in the modified special division in
1962 .
He moved to the Grand National circuit in
1965 and got his first victory at Oxford Plains Speedway on
July 12 ,
1966 .
During the course of his career, Bobby Allison accumulated 84 victories, which ties him for third all-time with
Darrell Waltrip , including three victories at the
Daytona 500 in
1978 ,
1982 and
1988 , where he finished one-two with his son,
Davey Allison . He was also the NASCAR
Winston Cup Championship in
1983 . Additionally, Allison ran in the
Indianapolis 500 twice, with a best finish of 25th in
1975 .
On
June 19 ,
1988 , Bobby Allison nearly died in a crash at
Pocono Raceway , but was left with injuries that forced his retirement from NASCAR. He was elected to the
International Motorsports Hall Of Fame in
1993 , tragically, the same year that his son
Davey died in a helicopter accident at
Talladega Superspeedway . He was inducted into the
Motorsports Hall Of Fame Of America in 1992.
Officially, according to
NASCAR.com , Bobby Allison has won 84 races, placing him in third place on the all-time wins list, tied with Myers Brothers 250 held at
Bowman Gray Stadium (Winston-Salem, North Carolina), and the
1973 National 500 at
Charlotte Motor Speedway . (Charlotte, North Carolina.)
The 1971 Myers Brothers 250 was held August 6, 1971 at Bowman-Gray Stadium in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. The first car to cross the finish line after 250 laps was driven by Bobby Allison. No one is disputing these facts. What is disputed, is how, and was he a legitimate Grand National driver, and as such, entitled to the Winner title. In 1971, the number of cars racing were low, and NASCAR decided to allow entries from what was known at that time as the Grand American Series. For that race, and the race following at West Virginia International Speedway, Allison raced in one of those "field fillers", a 1970 Ford Mustang. (the #49, sponsored by Rollins Leasing, owned by Melvin Joseph) As he was not racing in a Grand National car, he never received credit. It has been rumored that recently, NASCAR decided to finally credit him with the victory, but this can neither confirmed, nor reflected in the statistics kept on NASCAR's web site.
The 1973 National 500 was held October 7, 1973 at Charlotte Motor Speedway in Concord, North Carolina. The first three cars to cross the finish line after the scheduled 334 laps (501 miles) were driven by
Cale Yarborough ,
Richard Petty , and Bobby Allison, in that order. Again, these facts are not disputed. What is disputed, is the legality of the first two cars' engines, recounted in Jim Mclaurin’s book ”NASCAR'S Most Wanted", in the chapter “Fudgin’ With the Rules”:
:In the 1973 National 500 at Charlotte Motor Speedway, Allison protested that the engines in winner Cale Yarborough's and second-place Richard Petty's cars were over-sized. NASCAR inspected all three of the top finishers, and Allison's engine fit the cubic-displacement specs. Six hours after the inspections began, NASCAR technical director Bill Gazaway told the press that the results were being sent to headquarters in Daytona for a final decision.
:Monday afternoon NASCAR released a statement saying that, because the inspection facilities at Charlotte were inadequate, the pre-race inspection numbers would be used-when all three cars were legal and that the results would stand.
:Allison threatened both to quit and to sue. It was not until after a private meeting with NASCAR President Bill France, Jr., a week later that Allison was assuaged. Speculation was that Allison had been bought off. Allison wouldn't confirm or deny it, saying only that he had “received satisfactory restitution”.
The results were never changed, but many to this day still believe that Allison was robbed of yet another win to add to his already long list.
Bobby was a car owner for numerous drivers from
1990 to
1996 , most notably
Hut Stricklin ,
Derrike Cope ,
Neil Bonnett , and
Jimmy Spencer .
''See also:''
List Of NASCAR Drivers
